Talented mare Voleuse De Coeurs is set to carry the top-weight in the 2014 Sydney Cup and trainer Mike Moroney is hopeful that the Royal Randwick track improves significantly before the running of the Group 1 event on Saturday.
Voluese De Coeurs will be stepping up to 3200 metres for the first time since she finished tenth in the 2013 Melbourne Cup. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Voleuse De Coeurs was well-backed in the lead-up to the Group 1 The BMW (2400m) at Rosehill Gardens on April 5, with punters confident that the imported stayer would relish the wet conditions, but Moroney told Racing Ahead that the Teofilo mare never travelled on the heavy Rosehill Gardens track.
Moroney said that he is happy with Voleuse De Coeurs heading into the Sydney Cup this weekend, but admits that he is worried how the five-year-old will handle another heavy track over the testing trip of 3200 metres this weekend.
“I thought that The BMW was a pass mark; I was a bit disappointed she didn’t travel up easier after she travelled up really good on top of the ground over a mile and a quarter,” Moroney said.
“She never really carted into the race and we made late ground, but I was a little bit disappointed with how she travelled up on the ground.
“He (jockey Glen Boss) was quiet surprised that she didn’t handle it, he was dumbfounded about it because he thought she would.
“He did say that was bumbling all the way in the ground and never really travelled on it.
“She actually felt like a horse that didn’t handle the ground at all and that will be the question mark.
“She has looked at her best when the track has been firmer and her win in the St Leger was on a good track.
“I think that she is probably best on just a dead track and if it comes back to that she will be a good chance.”
The Royal Randwick track conditions are not the only thing that has Moroney worried about the chances of Voleuse De Coeurs in the Sydney Cup; with the leading trainer concerned about the heavy weight of 58 kilograms that the 2013 Irish St Leger winner will be forced to carry in the Group 1 event.
The retirement of Fiorente and the withdrawal of Macedon Lodge-trained duo Mourayan and Green Moon means that the weights in the Sydney Cup weights will rise and Voleuse De Coeurs will wear the number one saddlecloth.
“It hasn’t been a good race for top-weights for a long time; it has been won by lightly-weighted horses
“I know that the stretch is not going to be that big in weight, but it is still a bit of weight to be lumping about over that sort of distance.”
Voleuse De Coeurs ($7) is currently on the second line of 2014 Sydney Cup betting markets; with Gai Waterhouse-trained The Offer ($2.30) a clear favourite to take out the $1 million event.
